Midfielder is preparing for his first ever final - shame mum and dad are on
holiday

If James Dunne’s parents had wanted to be further away when their son makes his first Scottish Cup final appearance on Saturday, they could scarcely have planned it better.

The St Johnstone midfielder’s mum and dad, Janet and John – presumably he never had any difficulties learning to read – had booked a marathon holiday some time ago before Dunne and his team-mates had embarked on their historic run to their meeting with Dundee United at Celtic Park.

Given Dunne only arrived on loan from Stevenage in January and that Saints have reached the first major final in the club’s 130-year existence, the Dunnes are entitled to exclaim: “Who knew?”

The 24-year-old is phlegmatic about the situation. “My dad wanted to fly back from China for the game then fly back but I told him it’s too much money,” Dunne said.

”They are travelling to Malaysia, China and Dubai, so it’s a fair trek to come back here. They’ll be in China at the time, but they’ll have wi-fi and get it on the Ipad, or more probably try to find a bar.

”They’d booked the holiday before I came to Scotland. My mum and dad love coming to the games and wouldn’t have booked anywhere if they’d known I was going to be playing in a final.”

Dunne was an Arsenal youth recruit along with Kieran Gibbs and, in another improbable conjunction, the pair will appear in the Cup finals north and south of the border on Saturday.

”We were in the Croydon, Bromley areas so we played in the Kent Leagues and we played with our schools. I played against his little brother Jayden, who is at Aldershot now,” said Dunne.

”I went to Wimbledon and they turned up, so we took it from there. Kieran and I went back on to Arsenal and Jayden came for a year, but they didn’t offer him anything after that. He has done well since then and I am still close to Jayden.

”Of the people who are now in the Arsenal first team, I came through with Jack Wilshere who has done exceptionally well. I dealt more with Pat Rice than Wenger but we went round to the first team training when they were preparing for Champions League and needed mannequins and the like!

”You’d go over there and you’d be training with Cesc Fabregas and Thierry Henry. They were superstars but made you feel so welcome – they would shake your hand and ask if you were alright.

”Training with the best players in the world made you feel good but sometimes I did feel a bit scared. Playing against guys like that, you can get found out – and I got found out quite a few times.”

As for his own future, Dunne has no idea if he will return to Stevenage.”I haven’t spoken to anyone. I’d like to stay but it’s out of my hands because Stevenage have the option on me,” he said.

“Celtic were still in the Scottish Cup when I arrived, so I didn’t think that come May we’d be in the final. It’s been a long time for the club – 130 years, so I’m looking forward to it.”